I built up my Surly Pugsley last year around this time. Since then I have abused it more than any bike deserves….
So far I’ve had one flat and oiled the chain twice. I’ve done no other maintenance and had no problems with the bike at all. The bike still shifts like it was brand new. I was thinking the chain looks pretty beat up from all the grit so I was going to replace it, but then I got lazy and figured it’s probably good for another year of mayhem.
If you are ever wondering what the point of of an internally geared hub is the answer is trouble free riding!
Two thumbs up for a Shimano Alfine hub and a frame with horizontal dropouts…=-)
Megan of Evil Moose Blog fame. Has been riding her Surly LHT with her better half for what seems like forever on a bike tour through Japan and then Europe. As always she is taking some stunning photos as well as writing humorous commentary of her trip.
If you have a bit of time to kill her photo gallery and blog are well worth a visit.
If you’ve got cantis [cantilever brakes] and aren’t sure how to set them up to optimize braking performance click here and read this short, but useful article on the subject from Bicycle Quarterly.
Running tires at max pressure doesn’t make them faster. It just makes them ride more harshly. Bicycle Quarterly has run some comprehensive tests on various tires to validate this and in my own experience it has proven true as well. I find myself explaining this over and over again in various online forums since it goes against commonly held cycling dogma. Happily Jan Heine at Bicycle Quarterly has posted an article summarizing how to determine the correct pressure for your tires. Now I can just post a link to the article and save my fingers the typing.
The only thing I would add to Jan’s article is that I find there is no need to get super precise about this process and generally just eyeball the vertical drop. As long as I get it in the ballpark I don’t notice a major impact either way. Since I’m lazy I tend to go for slightly less then optimal vertical drop when inflating my tires. I’m not going to mess with them until they have lost a lot of air so my tires will reach the optimal pressure sooner or later and when they get noticeably soft I’ll repeat the process.
One of the biggest problems with using bikes as transportation in a city is stopping your bike from being stolen or vandalized while you are away from it. I’ve seen lots of ideas for secure bike storage that are just plain goofy, but I’ve got to say this idea from the folks at Bike Tree International is actually pretty clever.
It’s portable, keeps the bikes out of reach and out of the elements. You operate it with a smart card or a credit card so it’s secure.
Now you just have to convince Calgary city officials that if they really want people to stop driving and ride bikes one thing they need to do is pony up for secure storage like this downtown.
Can you imagine what car drivers would do if every time they left their cars downtown they weren’t sure they’d still be there when they got back?…=-)
